Automatic rough-ball grinder



J. J. MCINTYRE AND C. KOEHLER.

AUTOMATIC ROUGH BALL GRINDER. APPLICATION FILED AUG-21.1918.

1 3%,? 6?) Patented June 17, 1919 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I 1/? var? F Q/ a? W, f f M 1.]. MCINTYRE AND (L'KOEHLER. AUTOMATICROUGP BALL smmnm. APPLICATION FILED AUGJH I918 LEQGJZQESF Patented31111617, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- earths.

reared.

J'QHll' I. IVIGINTYRE AND CHARLES KQEHLER, F HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC ROUGH-BALL GRINDER.

.ipplication filed. ilugust 521, 1918.

To all whom 1'15 "/22 (13 concern Be it. known that we, JOHN J.Mclx'rrnn and Cuwiuins Konnia-zn, citizens of the United States,residing at. Hartford, in the county of ll'lartt'ord and State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in AutomaticRough-Ball Grinders, 0t which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine which is designed for-grindingroughly :lorrned metallic halls touiearly finished size and shape.

The object of the invention is to provide a. machine which willcontinuously feed and rapidly and quite accurately grind and dis chargeballs, and which is so constructed that a large number of balls will heground at the same time and the cooperating e'riilidinc; and feedingparts, which are capable of adjustment for halls of various sizes, willhe durable and can be easily restored as they become worn and used untilcompletely worn out when other parts may he quickly substituted.

In this machine the halls are allowed to feed from a hopper into aspiral channel formed in the face of a ring which retains the halls witha yielding pressure against. the surface of a rotating grinding ringwhile a rotating disk carries the halls along; the spiral channel andcauses them to he discharged at the end when ground.

Iii-the accompanying drawings. which illus trate an enihodinient of theinvention, Figure l. shows a longitudinal vertical section taken on theplane indicated by the dotted line 1-l on Fig. :2. Fig. 2 shows atransverse vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the dottedline 2-4! on Fig. l. Fig. 3 shows, on much larger scale, a radialsection through av portion of the chain neled ring, the carrying diskand the e'riiuh inp; ring. Fig. l shows a section (alien at right anglesto that of Fig. on the plane indicated h the dotted line -l--:l on thatfigure.

The frame l of this machine is desirably a heavy casting. Journaled inthe frame at one side is a horizontal shaft 2 which is proridcd at itsouter end with a driving pulley 3 and on its inner end has an annularplate 4. Between the plate and the frame Specification of Lettersltatent.

llat carted June it, it'lliltl.

Serial No. 250,784.

around the shaft an anti-friction thrust hearing 5 is ariangred. On theface of the plate that is fastened. to the shaft, and secured bya-clanip ring (3, is a grinding ring 7 which is desirably made of emery,carlJO1'llI1(ll.Ull or a similar material Mounted in the frame atv theother side and tree to more longitudinally hutnot r0 late, is a.cylindrical huh Fixed on the inner end of this hub is an annular plate9. Fastened on the face of this plateis a ring 10 prel'erahly made ofcast iron, which ring in its face opposite the face of the grinding ringhas a spiral channel. 11. A. spring 1'3 is arranged in the cylindricalhuh in such manner as to tend to press the plate and chaniielcdringtoward the grinding ring on. the plate l astenedto the shaft. Thetension of this spring is determined by inc-ans of the screw 13 thatturns in a. threaded opening in the cap ll; which is fastened to the endof the frame. This screw has a hand wheel 15 on its outer end 1 and itsinner end hears againsta movable plate 16 at the end of the spring.Screws 1? which are threaded into the end of the cylindrical huh passloosely through the cap and on the outside have nuts 18 which may headjusted to liinit the amount of inward movement of the channeled ring;under the thrust oi the spring.

Between the adjacent l'accs of the channeled ring. which llUiBS lhOllrotate hut has a longitudinal run'einr-nt. and the grinding ringgl.which does rotate but. has, no longitudinal inorenu-nt, is a thin dish15) which is provided with a nuniher of radial slots it) that overliethe spiral channel in the lace oi the rhannelcd ring. This dish isl'astencd to an annular plate ii that is sccured to a rotulalilearhor'fli which has one end supported h a hashing 23 in a rece s in the;"riiulin;1ring. shaft and its other end suppoited hy a hushing 12 t in arercss in the huh wh ch supports the hanneled ring. One end of thisarh'or is threaded and. proridrd with a washer 25 and nut it; whichliniits the cndwisc incrementof the arhor with rciation to the hub.hastened around the edge of the slotted dislc is a gear 27 that isengaged by a pinion 28 on a shaft. .29 which is provided with a pulley'30. The

. rotatable slotted disk and gear are desirably guided betweenanti-friction balls 31 carried by plungers 32 which are pressed slowspeed in the same or opposite direction,

by means of the pinion and gear, while the channeled ring is adjusted bysetting the spring screw and the stop nuts so that it will press towardthe grinding ring with the desired force. The balls which have beenplaced in the hopper 35 gravitate therefrom down through the passage 36to the inner end of the spiral channel in the channeled ring. As thegrooved carrier disk rotates,-

the balls at the lower end of the feed passage are picked up by thegrooves in the disk and are carried around in the spiral channel by thedisk with their surfaces pressed against the grinding ring until the endof the channel is reached, and then the balls pass out through thedischarge tube 37 which will conduct them back to the hopper or to anyother suitable receptacle.

Balls of different size, within the range of the machine, may be groundandballs of various hardness may be ground to just the desired degree byproperly adjusting the tension of the pressure spring and adjusting thenuts and screws whlch permit the pressure to be exerte'd'to' just suchan extent and no, more. As the balls are fed spirally. at low speed bythe slotted carrier disk and channeled ring, and the grinding ring isrotated at high speed the entire surfaces of the balls are presented toand carried across the face of the'grindingring so all unevennesses inthe balls are completely removed and there is a uniform Wear on the faceof the grinding material. As the face of the grinder wears away thechanneled ring is allowed to follow it up by properly adjusting thescrews which limit the movement of the plate and by adjusting thetension of the pressure spring. When the grinding ring is worn down sothat no more can be used a new ring is readily substituted-and when thechanneled ring is worn it can be taken out and refinished or anothersubstituted. By changing the channel ring and substituting one havinglarger or smaller channels balls of widely different sizes may beground. If the balls were Very much larger or very much smaller, ofcoursethis would necessitatena change in the carrier disk to one havinglarger or smaller grooves. If the balls discharge back into the hopperthe machine can be set running and it will run continuously until all ofthe balls are ground down to the desired size, and as a large number ofballs are in the machine at one timethe output of the machine is quitelarge.

The invention claimed is; 1. A ball grinding machineconsisting of aframe, a grinder rotarilyfmounted on the frame, a spiral guide mountedon the frame and movable toward and from the grinder, and a slottedcarrier rotarily mounted between the face of the of the guide. I

2.-A ball grinding machine consisting of a frame, a grinding memberrotarily mount-- ed on the frame, a member with a spiral channel mountedon the frame and movable toward and from the grinding member,and aslotted carrying member rotarily mounted between the face of thegrinding member and the face of the channeled member.

3. A ball grinding machine consisting of a frame, a grinding ringrotarily mounted on the frame, a ring with a spiral channel mounted onthe frame and movable toward and from the grinding ring, and a disk withradial slots extending across said spiral channel rotarily mountedbetween the face of the grinding ring and the face of the channeledring.

4. A ball grinding machine consisting of a frame, a grinding memberrotarily mounted on the frame, amember with a spiral channel mounted onthe frame and movable toward and from the grinding member, a springforforcing the channeled member toward the grinding member, and-'a' slottedcarrying member rotarily mounted between the face of the grinding memberand the face of the channeled member.

grinder and the faceil- 5. A ball grinding machine consisting of aframe, a grinding member rotarily mounted on the frame, a member with aspiral channel mounted on-the frame and movable toward and from thegrinding member, a spring for forcing the channeled member toward thegrinding member, means for limiting the movement of the channeled membertoward the grinding member, and a slot-' ted carrying member rotarilymounted between the face of the grinding member and the face of thechanneled member.

6. A ball grindin machine having a frame, an annular pla ie rotarilymounted on the frame, a grinding ring fastened to said rotary plate, anannular plate movable axially on the frame toward and from the rotaryplate, a ring with a spiral channel mounted on said axially movableplate, a spring for forcingsaid axially movable plate and channeled ringtoward said rotary plate and grinding ring, and a grooved disk rotarilymounted between the faces of the grinding ring and channeled ring.

7. A ball grinding machine having a frame, a plate rotarily mounted onthe frame, a grinding ring fastened to said plate, a plate movablelongitudinally of the frame, a ring with a spin 1 channel mounted onsaid longitudinally movable plate, a spring for foreing said plate withchanneled ring toward said grinding ring, and a disk with radial groovesrotarily mounted between the faves 01 the grinding ring and ehanneledring.

8. A ball grinding machine, consisting of a frame, a grimling memberrotarily mounts ed on the frame, a member with a spiral channel mountedon the fran'le and movable axially toward and from the grinding memher,a spring for forcing the channeled member toward the, grinding member, aplate 1'0- taril mounted between said rotary :mereher and said axiallymovable member, an aslotted disk fixed to said plate between the. faceof the grinding member and tile face of the channeled member.

A machine for grinding balls comprising a rotary ah 'asin snrt'ac rotarymeans for carrying halls about a fixed axis and hon-a1 means for movingthe balls radra 1y with relation to said aXis and against said ah 'asivesurface as they are carried aromld by said rotary means.

JOlrlll l. ltLEoENT (lll A ll Bi l S K

